Improvement in game-indicators



A. 11. JONES & 1;-.0'sG0-0n.

Game -lnd'i'ca tjo-r No; 213,113 Patented Mar. 11, 1879.

Jlwen, for) UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABNER H. JONES, OF ILION, AND ISAAC OSGOOD, OF UTIGA, SEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN GAME-INDICATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 2] 3,113, dated March1], 1879; application filed August 17, 1878.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ABNER H. JONES, of Ilion, in the county ofHerkimer, and ISAAC OSGOOD, of Utica, in the county of Oneida, and Stateof New York, have invented certain Improvements in Indicators for Games,of which the following is a specification:

Our-invention relates to devices for indicating the order of playing incroquet and similar games in which the order is frequently changed; andit consists in a rod or stem provided with a series of balls, buttons,or blocks of difierent colors or hearing different marks or characters,arranged to be removed from the rod or stem and placed in any orderdesired at will.

The object of this invention is to obviate the necessity of exchangingmallets and balls when playing croquet, Z6 cercle, and similar games, tocause them to correspond in the order of their playing with thearrangement of the colors or other marks upon the stakes.

In playing games of this class it is generally considered desirable toplay last, or, at least, after one or two others have played and for thepurpose of determining the order of playing it is customary to lag ordraw lots for choice. When this point is decided, mallets and balls aretaken by the players in accordance with the arrangement of the marks onthe stakes, and the game is played. The order being changed at thecommencement of the next game, the players are compelled to exchangemallets and balls. To this there are various objections, the playersbeing apt to play the wrong balls, having become accustomed to differentones, the mallets and balls frequently being of different weights andsizes, and players frequently being accustomed each to the use of aparticular mallet and ball.

To remedy these difliculties, we construct our improved indicator asrepresented in the drawing, in which A represents a rod or stem, whichmay be of any suitable form 5 and I), a series of buttons, balls, orblocks, which are perforated and passed onto the rod or stem over theend, and secured upon the same by means of a pin, 0, passed through theupper end of the rod or stem, the balls or buttons 1) resting at thelower end of the series upon a sleeve or collar, (1.

By removing the pin 0 the balls or buttons 1) may be removed and theirarrangement changed to suit the order of playing.

When less than the full number of players engage in the game, only theballs or buttons required to indicate such number are used, the collaror sleeve cl being slid upward on the stem or rod A, and clamped bymeans of a screw, 6, against the lower ball or button.

The indicator may be made to take the place of the usual stakes, may beplaced upon the same or upon one or more of the wicket-s, or it may beused in addition to the stakes and placed at any point or points aboutthe ground.

It is apparent that, instead of the balls or buttons, plates or flagsmay be used, having stems to pass into, or hooks to engage upon, the rodor stem; but the construction shown and described is consideredpreferable.

It is also obvious that the indicator-balls may be marked with numbersto designate them, instead of colors; but in that case the mallets, orboth balls and mallets, would require to be marked or designated in thesame manner, and, as these are usually marked by colors, it is moreconvenient to designate the balls, rings, or plates of the indicator bycol. ors to correspond therewith.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is- 1. An indicatorfor croquet and similar games, consisting of a support or rod, A, with aseries of variously colored or numbered balls or equivalent devices,mounted thereon in such a manner that they may be removed and theirorder or relative positions be changed at will, substantially asdescribed.

2. In combination with the rod A and a series of detachable balls orequivalent devices, an adjustable supporting-collar, d, all arranged tooperate substantially as described.

ABNER H. JONES. ISAAC OSGOOD. Witnesses:

F. O. SHEPARD, GE H. DYOTT.

